Nelson Mandela - Invictus: In life and everafter

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus

Composed by British poet William Ernest Henley, Invictus – Latin for Unconquered – was a poem that greatly inspired the late Nelson Mandela during the long years of his imprisonment at Robben Island.

The metres of the poem fit the late leader’s unwavering fight for South African freedom, a struggle that finally saw the light of the day at the beginning of the 90s, when apartheid ended, and Mandela was finally released from prison after 27-years.

Nelson Mandela

Fittingly, the inspirational title was also given to a movie based on a book written by American author John Carlin. Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation charted the socio-political scenario that followed his release leading up to South Africa’s hosting of its first-ever Rugby World Cup and the iconic, unforgettable moment of the South African captain receiving the victor’s trophy from Mandela after winning the World Cup.

The picture of Francois Pienaar receiving the trophy from Mandela made for a picture worth millions with the contemporary world getting a glimpse of the freedom that Nelson Mandela had struggled to bring about, for all those years previously.

Coming into the sporting fold after years of being boycotted for their apartheid regime, the 1995 Rugby World Cup came to be seen a watershed moment for South Africa and its future. Mandela, leading the nation as the President, his country hosting the event made for a start towards a better future of South African sports, unifying its people – blacks as well as whites – even more strongly than ever before.

South Africa’s association with rugby is centuries old. But it was always a sport that was associated with Boers, the whites, who descended from the original Dutch colonists of the country. It was no wonder that the blacks, long suppressed by the atrocities heaped over them, resented the sport and the white sportsmen who represented it.

Bidding to host the Rugby World Cup in 1995 was Mandela’s way of ensuring that the residual anger and bitterness of the blacks that often saw them supporting for other rugby playing nations over South Africa was eradicated forever. It wasn’t a ploy of a politician; it was a visionary’s way of achieving the greater good using sport as the most viable tool of action to bring the nation closer.

It wasn’t easy though. To support a sport that had long been a symbol of oppression and so-called racial superiority was unthinkable to many. The sport’s history in the country spoke of lineages of whites playing it while the blacks bound by the rules of apartheid that governed their very existence, were restricted from playing for their own country. Despite the end of apartheid, the seeds of discord and discontent that were sown years before came rising all over again. Forgiving and forgetting seemed like alien concepts for the once-subjugated class of South Africans, words that sounded very idealistic but started to prove to be difficult to practice.

Talking about his own experiences in prison and holding them as an example, Mandela went on about making his countrymen understand why forgiving and forgetting the wrongs and the harshness dealt was important. His lack of hatred towards those who had imprisoned him became a pivot that considerably changed the minds and negative perceptions of the blacks towards the national rugby team members.

By the time the World Cup rolled in, the Springboks – the popular name by which the South African rugby team is referred to – received unanimous support, perhaps for the first time in the nation’s history, from all South Africans. The success of the event and South Africa’s triumph also marked the start of the nation’s endeavours to build itself up as a truly unified sporting nation.

Nelson Mandela took a back-step from mainstream South African politics after completing merely one Presidential term. But his campaigning for the country’s sporting sector never really stopped, continuing till the very end and spilling onto various sports.

When South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mandela’s joy to see his country host the prestigious event was palpable. As was the unanimity that he had strived to inculcate in his countrymen; A feeling of togetherness that came about far more easily to the South Africans this time round than right before the start of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Note: Both the book and the movie; starring Morgan Freeman as the inspirational leader and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, were well-received by the global audiences. Though rooted in fact, the book and by extension, the movie did take some well-crafted creative license, which only added more sheen to the book’s plotline and eventually, the movie’s adaptation making them a must-buy and a must-watch for book and movie enthusiasts alike.